A Derby man who spent more than two years in prison for a rape he did not commit has told how he was cleared only when his family uncovered key evidence on Facebook.

Danny Kay was jailed for four and a half years in late 2013 after a trial at Derby Crown Court.

Jurors were told a woman had accused him of raping her in 2012, when he was 20. Mr Kay, now 26, denied rape and said sex had been consensual.

He challenged the conviction at a hearing in the Court of Appeal in London in November, saying Facebook messages had been found which supported his story and showed that there had been contact after sex. Three appeal judges last month agreed and quashed his conviction.

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In an interview with The Mail of Sunday, Mr Kay, of Derby, said the messages were found by his sister-in-law Sarah Maddison.

Mr Kay, 26, said: "Even now, with the conviction quashed, I still can’t believe that it took years of pain and stress for this nightmare to end. And the terrifying thought is that, if the police and justice system could fail me like this, it could happen to anyone.

"Why didn’t the police check my Facebook account when they had my laptop and login details right from the start? Why did it take my sister-in-law to find the evidence? This isn’t some small matter, this is my life and for the police not to do those basic checks is horrendous."

In the interview, Mr Kay said a fellow inmate convinced him the messages he thought were lost were recoverable.

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Mr Kay asked his sister-in-law to log in to his account. She said: "I couldn’t believe how easy it was to find the messages. I’ve just worked in admin all my life and am no social media expert. It only took me a minute to find them so how trained police couldn’t is beyond me."

Mr Kay added: "I had complete trust in the legal system at the time so thought I had nothing to worry about."

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He said when he was found guilty "everything fell apart" and he "lost all faith in the system". He spent his first few months at HMP Whatton in Nottinghamshire, Europe’s largest prison for adult male sex offenders.

He added: "Hearing some of the things people have been in for is pretty sick. Some of them are proud of being paedophiles and rapists."

Mr Kay’s barrister Philip Rule, told the newspaper: "This is an important victory for justice. This is the tip of an iceberg of failings brought about by chronic and long-term under-resourcing of the criminal justice system."

Derbyshire police say they will be reviewing their investigation "to find out whether lessons can be learnt".